Dr. Yana Wengel is an Associate Professor at the Hainan University – Arizona State University International Tourism College (Haikou, China). Born in Siberia (Russia), Yana is truly an international tourism researcher. She holds an MA in Tourism Development Strategies from a Fachchochschule Stralsund (Germany) and a PhD in Tourism and Communication from Waikato University (New Zeeland).

Currently, she is involved in a number of international tourism projects, and one of her main projects focuses on mountaineering tourism.

By adopting a critical perspective to examine issues within tourism, she works as an interdisciplinary scholar specialising in tourism development, social sustainability and creative methodologies. For instance, she is a certified LEGO Serious Play facilitator and Ketso practitioner. 

Yana regularly engages with stakeholders and performs community work aligned to her research interests; she worked for Luxembourg Aid and Development Agency in Myanmar and has volunteered for Red Cross in New Zealand. Dr Wengel is co-founder of LEGO Serious Play research community.

Research & Publications